Letters to the Editor for Nov. 18, 2013

Sunday

Nov 17, 2013 at 8:53 PM

Readers share their thoughts on the Affordable Care Act and President Obama.

The ‘jobs governor'?The district office for Medicaid (AHCA) recently received a visit from Gov. Rick Scott's right hand man, Justin Senior. He came to tell the local office that as of June 30, they will be out of a job. The average employee in that office has worked for the state for about 25 years. They are not being offered transfers or the option to retire early without penalty no matter how close they are to the 30 year mark.Mr. Scott, the "jobs governor," has decided to eliminate a small, experienced group of individuals, who serve not only recipients but medical doctors and facilities as well, and replace them with private companies (HMOs) that are already struggling to provide care for the eligible in Florida. These people, who have mortgages, car payments and some who have children in college, will be without a job. How does this affect you?If you have ever tried to call DCF, then you have a preview of what is to come. If the state pays your Medicare premium, if you have someone in a nursing home, if you have a child who has home health care, if you have Medicaid of any kind, if you are an M.D. or facility that bills Medicaid, this will affect you.Everyone, including those on Medicare in nursing homes, will be put into managed care plans. This will limit your choice of doctors.Gov. Scott does not care about long-term employees and he does not care about you.Remember in November.Margie MillerOcala

A flawed lawRed flag warnings that the Affordable Care Act is flawed are flying like crazy.The bill was ramrodded through Congress. Nancy Pelosi demanded, "We have to vote for the bill to know what is in it!"They didn't want us to know what was in it, because it is bad and more than 2,000 pages long. It can raise taxes, penalize businesses, kill jobs, hurt funding for Medicare and burden young citizens with high premiums and deductibles. It is very confusing and loaded with too many regulations.Some 16,000 new IRS employees will administer the program and mandate that all citizens buy health insurance. Now, don't forget "You can keep the insurance you have plus keep your doctor," as quoted by our president. Really?Objections to the ACA are surfacing from all around the nation. We are reminded that it is the law. Our president, without congressional approval, has changed the law by granting waivers or delays and subsidies to some favored groups, unions and corporations and staff.But what happened to us?Red flag warnings continue to fly high. The ACA website is dysfunctional after millions of dollars were spent. Many citizens' insurance policies have been canceled because they do not meet ACA requirements. Employer-funded insurance will be mandated by Obamacare requirements in 2014, causing many to be canceled as well.Yes, some areas of our health care system should be fixed, but the ACA is not the way.It should be repealed. Replace it with a more affordable program and maintain our personal choices.There is a crisis of confidence in the leadership of our country. We are not a one-size-fits-all nation.Trudy RichardDunnellon

The end gameIf you support President Barack Obama's government health care law, you may be feeling a bit defensive because of the embarrassing difficulty with the website and the negative news of people losing their current insurance plan.Don't worry. Eventually Obama's health care website will get up and running. Over time millions of people will lose their current insurance plan; they will sign up on the website and Obama's government-run health care plan will reach a reasonably sustainable status. Pretty soon we will read about hundreds of billions of dollars spent on waste, fraud and abuse just like we do now with Social Security payments to dead people, IRS returns to people in prison and fraudulent Medicare and Medicaid claims.Down the road enough of us whose view of America differs from President Obama will die off and his dream of "fundamentally changing the way we do business in America" will become a reality.Congratulations.Ed HallOcala

Obama's criticsRegarding President Barack Obama: I am sick of people putting him down. Yes, there are flaws in Obamacare, but instead of fighting against it, why not stand with him?But instead, his opponents lie and fight and even allowed the government to shut down. Now we could talk about their President George Bush. What did he do? He sent our young folks off to be killed in a questionable war and in the process put our country far in debt — all the while making sure his 1 percent rich got richer. I could go on but I won't.Of course you sit in your plush job with high pay and lots of extras with the best insurance our taxes can buy. Shame on you, and shame on the people that voted for you. You all will be judged by a higher power some day.Ellen StillDunnellon

Obama the MessiahCan you explain to this 84-year-old Korea veteran why this younger generation, especially the young women, are so taken by President Barack Obama? Don't they realize their messiah is ruining their future. Those that have jobs will be working for the freeloaders and become Obama's slaves to his chosen people, the nonworkers.John MarianiDunnellon